Relative performance of major stock indices end Q1 2017

This is an overlay of chosen stock indices with duration from beginning of 2017 to end of first quarter too see their relative performance. This is how you can do an overlay of your own theme to inspect relative strength, relative performance using Tradingview‘s free platform.

I use the CFD feeds available in Tradingview. There are multiple choices available but I choose the ones from Oanda. You can choose available feed from any broker but for comparison sake, it is best to have all indices from a same feed so that we can have an apple to apple comparison.

I follow the buy strong sell weak principle – the strongest index here is Nasdaq100 and the weakest JP225. Index bulls and bears should be able to make a personalised choice. In a relative strength overlay such as this, I would zoom in to the two ends regardless of whether I am looking for outperformance or diversification – no point to deal with any cluster in the centre.

Note: After re-reading the whole thing before publishing, I realise that for whatever reason, the Hang Seng Index which I follow very closely is not featured here. I don’t want to redo the chart but for Q1 2017, HSI or HK33USD based on Oanda feed returned 9.5%. This performance places Hang Seng at the top slightly under SiMSCI in third place. Also if you notice my labelling inconsistent, it is. I am putting down very quickly, things that come spontaneously to my mind.

‘Weak’ Nikkei 225 slight loss for the quarter

Weakness is relative – when making comparisons I follow the guide of ‘between and within’. Following two very bullish quarters in Q3 and Q4 of 2016, I look at Nikkei 225 as weak when compared to other indices, and duration over the past quarter.

Visibly Nikkei 225 is the worst performer compared to other indices but over the quarter, it managed to close as the only stock index in the loss. FTSE 100 which is the next worst performer returned a positive gain of nearly 3%.

Jp225 (Nikkei 225 CFD, Oanda feed) daily chart, Sep 2016 to present

How two different markets read that China PMI beat

I have said many times to take news with a pinch of salt. One should neither be too bullish nor too bearish because apparently bullish/bearish depends on who you read from/talk to. Because GOSH headlines can be misleading – see my ‘proof’ here.

So last week China announced a ‘PMI beat, fastest in 5 years‘ data but in turns out that in my corner of the universe, China A50 is cheering but AUDUSD which usually has a favourable response to good Chinese news went the other way.

It may be interesting to note that based on full year performance in 2016, Yangzijiang was the full year loss leader while Golden Agri was the gain leader. Retracement, change of fortune or a simple case of take-profit-rotation-play you decide for yourself.

Straits Times Index constituents ‘Winners and Losers’ for Q1 2017

Note: I have taken all effort to check accuracy of data in this table. If you spot a mistake, please give feedback. In any case, this is indicative. I am sharing information I am using myself but it is not personalised to any individual reader. My data from Datafolio.

“Dear reader, I do not have a financial license to give advice. I do not know you the reader. Your financial objective and risk tolerance may be different from mine. I am not responsible for any consequence of your action.